The object of this work is to present a consecutive history of the Mormons from the day of their origin to 1902 as a secular, not religious, narrative. The history is based upon original sources, in most instances Mormon sources.

piration, will be ample guarantee for the
authenticity of the narrative.... Altogether the work is one of
the most interesting that has appeared in this latter
dispensation." Brigham Young, however, saw how many of its
statements told against the church, and in a letter to the
Millennial Star (Vol. XVII, p. 298), dated January 31, 1858, he
declared that it contained "many mistakes," and said that "should
it ever be deemed best to publish these sketches, it will not be
done until after they are carefully corrected." The preface to
the edition of 1890, published by the Reorganized Church at
Plano, Illinois, says that Young ordered the suppression of the
first edition, and that "under this order large numbers were
destroyed, few being preserved, some of which fell into the hands
of those now with the Reorganized Church. For this destruction we
see no adequate reason. "James J. Strang, in a note to his
pamphlet, "Prophetic Controversy," says that Mrs. Corey (to whom
the pamphlet is addressed) "wrote the history o